Demons

[rerj73]

After sloughing through a handful of recent horror remakes and rip-offs (I'm looking at you, crap version of Black Christmas), I decided to cleanse the palate with Lamberto Bava's Demons. For the uninitiated, this was a joint project between Lamberto Bava (son of Mario) and Dario Argento, who co-wrote and produced both Demons and Demons 2. This is almost a brilliant movie, but suffers from some poor direction and substantial dating thanks to the 80s soundtrack. There are a few too many scenes that made it into the film which should have been left on the cutting room floor, mos notably an excess of the over-the-top motorcycle scene.
What makes this movie genuinely good, if not great, is the amount of tension that is generated by the claustrophobic atmosphere of the film's set, the Metropol thater. As the movie-goers are transformed into either hideous demons or survivors, the film shows its inventiveness by moving from hallways to hidden rooms to air shafts as the survivors attempt to escape.
Argento's presence is often felt in the billowy theater curtains and the lighting used throughout. For those of you who haven't seen this diamond in the rough, it is highly recommended, despite its flaws.

[thecrawlingchaos]

Did they stick the 80s soundtrack with the American release of this film or not? I remember with the Argento film Phenomena, they added some Motorhead and Maiden when it was released in the states- good music, but they play the hell out of 'Flash of the Blade' and it seems inappropriate at times.

[rerj73]

It is definitely chockful of cheesey '80s music goodness. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I would argue that the film is dated, but stands up on the merits of its overall creepy factor.

[thecrawlingchaos]

you know what? I think the metal soundtrack was part of Phenomena before it came to the states, so my bad!

[rerj73]

I'm not a huge fan of doing period music in a film unless you are specifically using the music as a way to place your story in time, i.e. Donnie Darko. I think a few have done it well, like Return of the Living Dead, but for the most part, I think it tends to pull me out of the film and make me focus on the music.